2020 TBR Cleanup Challenge

[Amanda]

After finishing It Devours!, I'm a whole... *checks watch* 1/4 of the way through this challenge. Yikes! And all on the shorter side too...

[Sebastian]

Since I'm more than halfway through my yearly reading challenge as well as the Read All the Books group challenge I thought I'd add another one for the second half of the year. Also, I love lists and making this one was so much fun (and I spent way too much time on it). I tried to only use books that I already owned and actually managed! (Which probably means that I'm buying too many books.) Here goes:

1. Inspired by a meme
The Empress of Salt and Fortune
(meme of the salt sprinkle guy)
2. Nominated for 2+ awards (didn't win)
Burial Rites
(Shortlisted for The Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction, The Guardian First Book Award and The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Awards)
3. Small publisher
Spellbound
(Carina Press)
4. Relationship between humans/animals
Kafka on the Shore
(Cats, I think?)
5. Recommended by a public figure
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster
(Recommended by Brady Haran)
6. Steal from someone else
The Lies of Locke Lamora
(Being literally with the steal here: MC is a thief)
7. Makes you wonder
This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession
(I've always wondered why music can evoke so many emotions and I love knowing the science behind things)
8. Fits a past SFFBC nomination theme
The Drawing of the Three
(Sci-Fi/Fantasy Sequel June/July 2018)
9. #ownvoices
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
(Self-explainatory)
10. Won a smaller or regional award
Rosewater
(I realize it also won the Arthur C. Clarke Award but it won the Nommo Award first)
11. What a title?!
Dinge geregelt kriegen - ohne einen Funken Selbstdisziplin
(This was a gift and it roughly translates to: Getting things done without a shred of self-discipline)
12. Published in a memorable year
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
(Published in 1950, the year my beloved late mother was born)
13. #relatable
A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science
(As someone who didn't like math in school but came to love it at university, this is highly relatable.)
14. Seven or Twenty
Le Tour du monde en 80 jours
(This is for the number 20 because in French, 80 is "quatre-vingts" which means" four twenties".)
15. Dialect, slang, or pidgin languages
Their Eyes Were Watching God
(African-American vernacular)
16. Pushing the boundaries
The Satanic Verses
(This is the book that caused a fatwa to be issued against Salman Rushdie.)
17. The next [Harry Dresden]
All Souls Near & Nigh
(Gay Harry Dresden. So much fun.)
18. LOLed IRL
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
(I LOLed IRL a lot when I saw this on stage in NYC. And then in London. And then in NYC again. And then...)
19. Seen in an ad or on social media
Lightning
(Not really an ad but kindle kept recommending this to me. Never read a Koontz book before.)
20. Hindsight is 20/20
The Blind Assassin
(Didn't really know what to do with this prompt so I went quite literal with the sight/blindness theme.)

Really looking forward to this challenge!

[Raucous]

Sebastian wrote: "... 18. LOLed IRL
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
(I LOLed IRL a lot when I saw this on stage in NYC. And then in London. And then in NYC again. And then...) ..."

I remember reading Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West when it first came out and really enjoying it. It's good to hear that the translation to the stage worked out so well.

[Raucous]

I've read another five books for my TBR challenge:

✔︎ 2. Nominated for 2+ awards (didn't win): Ninefox Gambit (Worked for me once I read it as fantasy, not science fiction)
✔︎ 4. Relationship between humans/animals: Minor Mage (Who knew that armadillos could be so sarcastic?)
✔︎ 11. What a title?!: The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination: Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius (It's not as easy as you'd think.)
✔︎ 12. Published in a memorable year: How to Lie with Statistics (No longer represents the state of the art in mass deception.)
✔︎ 15. Dialect, slang, or pidgin languages: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ("Stone the crows! There's a perishing motor-car overhead!")

Overall progress: 9/20

[Dj]

I finished Glory Road
this was my book that was published in an important year. The year was 1963, which happens to be the year I was born. For everyone who doesn't really have all that much interest in when I was born. (though I can't imagine who that might be) it was all the year that Kennedy was assassinated. Unfortunately, this book did little to impress me. Here is my review:

This book did not impress me the way that many of the other books by Heinlein have, there was little subtlety and almost no nuance to the characters. It felt more like I was reading one of his stories that had been written for Boys Life Magazine instead of a real book. The only real difference between this and the Boys Life stories was that there was sex. Not much, not really graphic but the sexual themes wouldn't have been put in a Magazine for Boy Scouts.

I would suggest passing on this and reading something more along the lines of Job instead. Or if you are really attached to the sex aspect, Stranger in a Strange Land.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

well, at least we have you, DJ! something good came out of 63 :)

[Dj]

Allison wrote: "well, at least we have you, DJ! something good came out of 63 :)"

Thanks.

[CBRetriever]

well, I've started my dialect book

15. Dialect, slang, or pidgin languages
__The Red Badge of Courage from Complete Works of Stephen Crane
__Dialect used in conversations

so far so good and as it's short by modern standards (under 200 pages) 170 pages, I'm not sure if it's a novel or a novella

[Kateb]

i actually read a lot of Heinlein books back when they were being published, so back in those days Glory road was great, it must be just the times. i read it a few more times over the years and still enjoyed it

i re read it recently and wasnt nearly as impressed.

Same goes Stranger in a Strange land. Same for Issac Asimovs foundation series.

i find you have to take into consideration the year these things were written and skip, or just ignore the cultural references of the time eg sexual beliefs/ gender bias .

As one of the bra burning brigade i still enjoyed his books and ignored those misogynistic undertones. I found most of his books were this way inclined

[Dj]

Kateb wrote: "i actually read a lot of Heinlein books back when they were being published, so back in those days Glory road was great, it must be just the times. i read it a few more times over the years and sti..."

I would have to agree to that with a number of his books. That might be a part of the times though. The only book by him that I have re-read to date is Starship Troopers, which avoids the misogynist aspect of his writing by having no women in it. Unlike the movie.

[Lost Planet Airman]

Dj wrote: "Allison wrote: "well, at least we have you, DJ! something good came out of 63 :)"

Thanks."

I find I prefer 1965.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

1965, also a good year! ^^

[Meredith]

I am up to 9 read, recently finished:

13. #relatable: The Perks of Being a Wallflower, High School, ugh. - the author/MC had a lot of keen and poignant observations, so even if you don't see yourself in the main character, you will probably see yourself somewhere in this book.
6. Steal from someone else: Network Effect, thanks Anna! - Yay for Murderbot

[Anna]

Don't steal my Murderbot! :D

[Meredith]

Too late! Mwah hah ha ha! (It was worth it!)

[Anna]

Well as long as it's the novel, not the novellas!

[Lost Planet Airman]

Dj wrote: "Kateb wrote: "i actually read a lot of Heinlein books back when they were being published, so back in those days Glory road was great, it must be just the times. i read it a few more times over the..."

I think upon my next retirement, I'll go to school for a Ph.D. in Lit., because more and more I want to write a thesis so I can fully grasp Heinlein and the misogyny question. Sometimes, I do think I understand, but then I look at Podkayne, or The Empress of Twenty Universes, or dropship captain Carmen Ibañez, or Hazel Stone, Maureen Johnson, Holly, Friday Jones, Wyoming Knott, D.T. Burroughs, Jack Daudet, Caroline, Peewee, Mary, and of course Mycroft "Mike" Holmes' friends Pallas Athene, Minerva, and Dora, and I think it's something else being mistaken for misogyny. Someday I'll have it figured out.

I am finding, as I try to read some of the oldies, that not even the best of older science fiction (or fantasy) ages well. If our society is not more"mature", it is at least more "experienced", especially sith (ha ha, that is "with") so many ideas from sci-fi coming more mainstream. I feel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress has probably aged well, although I haven't read it in 20 years.

Finally, all the way back up to Glory Road, I seem to remember that it was written in response to some challenge about writing sword & sorcery. It lead me to try fencing in college, so I have fond memories, and I have always liked (a bowdlerized version of) the soliloquy by Oscar on the "life of adventure" we were promised in our youth.

[Anthony]

In Moon, which I read in the last couple of years, there are confusing and problematic aspects of his depiction of women, including having one woman making jokes about possibly being raped by a male friend. I was troubled by that content, to say the least.

[Kateb]

Mike wrote: "Dj wrote: "Kateb wrote: "i actually read a lot of Heinlein books back when they were being published, so back in those days Glory road was great, it must be just the times. i read it a few more tim..."

You are right Mike, it probably isnt as sexist as all that, i have re read a few now and still enjoy them, i just have to zone my mind out from judging on cultural/ time twists and the story line is great.

the concepts that most of the stories are based on a good eg i loved the idea of a man's mind in a woman's body, or being a person who didnt die trying to hide amongst the "norms" .

I have older male relatives , one at 95, who still has many of these cultural beliefs toward women

[Lost Planet Airman]

Kateb wrote: "You are right Mike, it probably isn't as sexist as all that, ..."

Some days, I am close to agreeing with those that would label Heinlein as misogynistic. Some days, when I reread a strong female character, I'm not. Further study, ho!

Anthony wrote: "In Moon, which I read in the last couple of years, there are confusing and problematic aspects of his depiction of women, including having one woman making jokes about possibly being raped by a mal..."

Definitely would push me toward the label of misogynist. But there are already historical problems in the treatment of women in frontier societies, so we'd have to take into account if this was a thematic point, or something else. Either way, I'd better put …Moon… on my "thesis reading list"! Thanks for bringing this to light, Anthony!

[CBRetriever]

Finished #14

15. Dialect, slang, or pidgin languages
__The Red Badge of Courage from Complete Works of Stephen Crane
__Dialect used in conversations

it's short by modern standards (under 200 pages) 170 pages, I'm not sure if it's a novel or a novella.

[Dj]

Mike wrote: "Dj wrote: "Allison wrote: "well, at least we have you, DJ! something good came out of 63 :)"

Thanks."

I find I prefer 1965."+

I have no real clear recollection of 1965 but I do know I had two brothers by then so not the worst of years I am sure. LOL

[Dj]

Mike wrote: "Dj wrote: "Kateb wrote: "i actually read a lot of Heinlein books back when they were being published, so back in those days Glory road was great, it must be just the times. i read it a few more tim..."

I remember the Moon is a Harsh Mistress fondly and I have to say in some sense that Heinlein did allow for some strong female characters that were more than just window dressing. It is always strange to read a book where the world is at war in the future and Women are still nothing than window dressing, they don't serve in the Military and don't have a more active role in Politics. For most early Sci-Fi there are very few exceptions to that. Which is a part of why I think it doesn't age well.

[Petar]

I'm up to 12 now and It's been a bit of a mixed bag for me. Only a few that I've really enjoyed (mainly history, Dogs of War has been the only sci fi book on the list that I've really enjoyed so far), a couple that have been decidedly ordinary (All the Birds in the Sky, 2312) and quite a few that have been quite middling.

Completed so far are;
3. Small publisher - A Time to Die: The Untold Story of the Kursk Tragedy.
4. Relationship between humans/animals - Dogs of War.
5. Recommended by a public figure - The World As It Is: Inside the Obama White House.
6. Steal from someone else - All the Birds in the Sky.
7. Makes you wonder - Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War.
8. Fits a past SFFBC nomination theme - Exilium - From the 2019 TBR Challenge number 20, a graphic or illustrated novel.
9. #ownvoices - Dark Emu - Indigenous Australian.
10. Won a smaller or regional award - The Admirals: Nimitz, Halsey, Leahy, and King—the Five-Star Admirals Who Won the War at Sea.
12. Published in a memorable year - 2312.
17. The next True Blood (ie, the next series that I will not bother to continue on with unless it improves with this book) - Devil Said Bang.
19. Seen in an ad or on social media - We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy.
20. Hindsight is 20/20 - Time and Time Again.

Still to go;
1. Inspired by a meme - The Interstellar Age: Inside the Forty-Year Voyager Mission.
2. Nominated for 2+ awards (didn't win) - SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome.
11. What a title?! - What It is Like to Go to War.
13. #relatable - Man's Search for Meaning.
14. Seven or Twenty - A Canticle for Leibowitz - The 7th Hugo Award winner.
15. Dialect, slang, or pidgin languages - Persepolis Rising.
16. Pushing the boundaries - Genghis Khan.
18. LOLed IRL - Witches Abroad.

[Anna]

I keep seeing Dark Emu everywhere!

[Petar]

Anna wrote: "I keep seeing Dark Emu everywhere!"

It's been very popular in Australia Anna. There hasn't been many publications dealing directly with Indigenous Australian history but that has started to change in recent years. Dark Emu has probably been the most popular one to come out yet.

[CBRetriever]

Finished #15

11. What a title?!
__Dinner at Deviant's Palace by Tim Powers
__especially because of the blood-sucking hemogoblins

this one didn't really thrill me. Too much of male adventure type story with women playing a very small supporting role. The homogoblin was a nice touch though.

[Amanda]

I've now got 8 of these out of the way and have started Downbelow Station and Dark Matter, so I guess I'm doing okay?

[Anna]

I'm at 10/20, so exactly on schedule :)

[Kari]

Only managed one this past month, hindsight is 20/20, for which I read Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin, as it is a re-telling of a history from another POV. Really beautiful, and I learned a lot about the history/mythology behind the founding of Rome as I was constantly referencing the original myth throughout. 6/20 thus far, so I need to play a bit of catch up!

[DivaDiane]

I’m totally stealing Lavinia for 20/20 hindsight! Thank you Kari! I read it recently too and loooved it.

[Hank]

Anna wrote: "I keep seeing Dark Emu everywhere!"

Sure I know that is a book since you capitalized it but the imaginations that sentence sparked.

[Hank]

I am now on number 20 which is Vita Nostra and is really out there philosophy wise. Very strange flow to the book.

[Anna]

Haha, well I also keep seeing Light Emu, and that one is most definitely not a book!

[Kaa]

I'm a tiny bit behind on this - currently at 9/20 - but I'm reading two of the others. I may do some shuffling of my remaining picks, we'll see. #relatable is likely to switch to science or political nonfiction, since that's what's at the top of my TBR right now. I've been pretty happy with all my picks so far - a few really amazing and the rest enjoyable, with none that I hated or dnf'd.

Completed:
✔2. Nominated for 2+ awards (didn't win): On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
✔4. Relationship between humans/animals: Dogs of War
✔5. Recommended by a public figure: Don't Call Us Dead
✔6. Steal from someone else: Network Effect
✔10. Won a smaller or regional award: Her Body and Other Parties
✔11. What a title?!: The Trans Space Octopus Congregation: Stories
✔17. The next [insert popular series here]: David Mogo, Godhunter
✔18. LOLed IRL: The Affair of the Mysterious Letter
✔19. Seen in an ad or on social media: The City We Became

Currently reading:
15. Dialect, slang, or pidgin languages: Lagoon
20. Hindsight is 20/20: Trace: Memory, History, Race and the American Land

To go:
1. Inspired by a meme: The Remedy: Queer and Trans Voices on Health and Health Care
3. Small publisher: Tender
7. Makes you wonder: Triangulum
8. Fits a past SFFBC nomination theme: Borderline
9. #ownvoices: The Way of Thorn and Thunder
12. Published in a memorable year: The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf
13. #relatable: Armed In Her Fashion
14. Seven or Twenty: The Tiger Flu
16. Pushing the boundaries: For colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf

[Hank]

Ratings for Lagoon are all over the place for my GR friends, it will be interesting to see where yours lands.

[Kaa]

So far (I'm about halfway through), Lagoon may be my favorite Okorafor book.

[Meredith]

Lagoon is on my TBR Cleanup list too.

[Lost Planet Airman]

Kari wrote: "Only managed one this past month, hindsight is 20/20, for which I read Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin, as it is a re-telling of a history from another POV. Really beaut..."

I think that, like Diane, I may steal Lavinia for my "Hindsight". Good book, and I like your reasoning!

[Kari]

I'm glad I've convinced some people to read Lavinia! Such a beautiful book. :) Enjoy.

[DivaDiane]

Added a couple of books to my tally of read books on this challenge:
Lavinia by Le Guin for No. 20. Hindsight is 20/20 as a retelling of the Aeneid by Virgil from Aeneas' Latin wife, Lavinia's POV.

Forty Thousand in Gehenna by CJ Cherryh. for No. 15 - Dialect, slang, or pidgin languages. Since the language of the abandoned azi settlers morphed into Pidgin with hand signals and Pattern for their caliban creatures.

[Lost Planet Airman]

2020 TBR Cleanup Challenge stands at 17 of 20 books (06 Jun update):
================================================================
1. Inspired by a meme: David Crockett: The Lion of the West (Written to refute the Disneyfication of "♪ ♫♪ Da-a-avy, Davy Crockett...♪ ♫"
2. Nominated for 2+ awards (didn't win): The Blade Itself was Locus Award Nominee for Best First Novel (2007), Compton Crook Award Nominee (2008), Tähtifantasia Award Nominee (2010)
3. Small publisher: William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope by Quark Press
4. Relationship between humans/animals: Flowers for Algernon
5. Recommended by a public figure: Andrew Luck, Leviathan Wakes
6. Steal from someone else: Black Science, Vol. 9 (view spoiler)[Remember, this is a spoiler! (view spoiler)[ Last chance to TURN BACK! (view spoiler)[ At various points, we have stolen multiverses, theft of destiny, stolen fate, and I suspect, the ultimate in identity theft. (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]
7. Makes you wonder -- haha, any Seven Wonders RATB (The Native Star)
8. Fits a past SFFBC nomination theme: The Goblin Emperor (November 2015 Debut)
9. #ownvoices Brown Girl in the Ring
10. Won a smaller or regional award -- The Guns of the South
11. What a title?! John Dies at the End
12. Published in a memorable year -- Changewar, 1983
13. #relatable -- Old Man's War
14. Seven or Twenty -- the seventh Tarzan book, Tarzan the Untamed
15. Dialect, slang, or pidgin languages Leviathan Wakes' sequel (& also #49 on URC-50)
16. Pushing the boundaries The Calculating Stars
17. The next [insert popular series here]...Thomas Covenant: The Summer Tree
18. LOLed IRL Midnight Riot -- the funny parts were a riot.
19. Seen in an ad or on social media -- The Collapsing Empire
20. Hindsight is 20/20 -- Ursula K. Le Guin, Lavinia

[Anna]

Anna wrote: "I'm at 10/20, so exactly on schedule :)"

And a week after declaring that I'm exactly on schedule, with no reason to panic whatsoever, I panicked and changed a bunch of books, resulting in now being at 15/20. I had too many eye-books left unread on the list, and I haven't been eye-reading much lately, so it was stressing me out. I changed to other eye-books, mainly short fiction collections/anthologies, which aren't as eye-intensive as longer novels. Up to date list in my challenge thread.

What a shame I can't do the same thing in the RATB challenge! I mean I guess I could technically change books on the group shelf, but I'm not quite that evil.

[Raucous]

Yeah. About that... I didn't have any collections in my TBR challenge list when I started the year. However after looking at all the space they were taking up on my virtual shelves it became clear that this was an oversight that I needed to correct - especially given the concurrent short fiction challenge. That's the only reason that I'm on schedule.

ps: I haven't forgotten that poll at the start of April - even though I did enjoy reading Bunnicula.

[Anna]

Haha, I actually thought about using Bunnicula for #4! :D And I might have prioritized short fiction because of the other challenge, but decided to pretend that wasn't the reason, because I generally try not to stack challenges when at all possible. But I'm also not into torturing myself, I want these to be fun, so here we are.

[Anna]

Does rodent pirate count for "15. Dialect, slang, or pidgin languages" ? The book I had planned to read (New Worlds, Old Ways: Speculative Tales from the Caribbean) isn't available to me as an ebook :( I was originally going to read Sister Mine, but I have to be in the mood for Hopkinson, and right now I'm not. There's still time to be in the mood, but if pirate counts, then I'm all set!

edit: I'm so stupid! I read Skin Folk in January, that works as a perfect Sister Mine substitute!

[DivaDiane]

And it just occurred to me that I can use Polar City Blues for #15 - pidgin etc! All the dialogue is written in an extrapolation of 80’s Californian/Latino speak that the author calls Merrkan. It definitely fits.

[Anna]

I’m not wearing my glasses and read that as Meerkat 😄

[Raucous]

Anna wrote: "Does rodent pirate count for "15. Dialect, slang, or pidgin languages" ? ...";

Yarrr!

I somehow managed to pick multiple books this year that either weren't available in eBook format (in one case no longer available in any format) or that had been on my shelves so long that the combination of yellowed paper and tiny print is beyond what my eyes will put up with now.

[CBRetriever]

Raucous wrote: "I somehow managed to pick multiple books this year that either weren't available in eBook format (in one case no longer available in any format) or that had been on my shelves so long that the combination of yellowed paper and tiny print is beyond what my eyes will put up with now. "

Substitution is the name of the game. I listed three different books for #ownvoices before finishing one